By popular demand

Well, only one reader requested it actually but he was the onlyrespondent to the last post so I thought I'd better do as he said.
Yes, I've been a bit of a slack blogger lately. It took me a couple of weeks to get my shit together and actually sit down and write something, for no particular reason.
And, as is the case, having not touched this site for two weeks I've come back and written two posts in as many days.

I thought I'd just give you a quick update on where I'm at. I'm still not smoking. It's now been ten weeks since I gave up. Which is totally awesome, if I don't say so myself. I've got two more days left of the anti-smoking medication then I'm on my own, but I'm pretty confident that I've broken the habit this time around. Famous last words maybe but we'll see.

It's my birthday on Sunday, which is very exciting but what's more exciting is that fact that the soccer team I follow, Manchester United, is in the Champions League final in Rome tonight. This year has been an awesome one for United - they won the English Premier League and also won the Club World Cup. If they win tonight's match this means they are the best team in England, Europe and the world. Needless to say there will be festivities at our house until the early hours of the morning (the game starts at 3am).

And that's all I've got for the moment. Now that I'm back in the groove again I don't expect to leave it so long between posts. Again, famous last words...

What I've Been Listening To OR Did I Mention I love Music?

I used to put music reviews up here from time to time, but I haven't in quite a while. Part of me thinks it's a bit self-serving to post large reviews of CDs I've been listening to anyway, so I thought I'd post a few brief ones in one go.

Doves - Kingdom of Rust
This epic album has taken Doves to a whole new level. Fans of previous Doves albums will find enough hooks in here to keep them coming back, while new fans will find enough depth and originality to add this band as one of their favourites.
Four stars.

Razorlight - Slipway Fires
While this album doesn't have the instant appeal Razorlight's previous album did, it doesn't take long to grow on you. Unfortunately, it also doesn't take long to plateau out. Eventually I came to realise that I wanted this album to be as awesome as the last and in the end, apart from a couple of gems, it just wasn't.
Two and a half stars.

Little Birdy - Confetti
This album is a big step up for Little Birdy, particularly from the sleazy electronic sound that permeated their last LP. I really like this album, and that's coming from someone who really doesn't like Little Birdy. Gone are the electronic sounds and the album grooves with a hint of Mowtown. Check it out.
Three and a half stars.

Eminem - Relapse
See how I buried this one in the middle to try and maintain the illusion of credibility? I like this album, although it is nowhere near the peak of his earlier work. It's the closest since the last couple of albums and Relapse sees a return to form of sorts for Eminem. He is at his antagonistic best throughout the album and the songs in general just sound better than I expected.
Three stars.

Glasvegas - Glasvegas
There's something about these guys. The soaring guitar melodies combined with the distinct Scottish accent coming through with the vocals perhaps. This album is a great sing-a-long one and if I was to name one downfall, it would be that some of the songs start to blend into one another after a little while.
Three stars.

Stolen cars and contradictions

My parents' house was broken into the other day. Well, technically not broken into, rather the offenders walked in through the unlocked door, took the car keys and a mobile phone and stole the car.

It was the middle of the night and it just happened to be the one time a year when my parents had forgotten to lock the door. Which is odd, considering they usually have the door locked even when they're home. Everyone's okay, the car was recovered and three juveniles between the ages of 14 and 16 were arrested.

Dad's first reaction was anger. I can kind of understand where he's coming from - he said he'd worked hard all his life to get to the stage where he had enough money to buy a nice car like that and that they had no right to take it off him.

But then he started going down the racism track. He made the assumption that they were Aboriginal kids without any evidence whatsoever that they were. To be fair, in all likelihood this was probably true but I argued the point with him.

Can you imagine the sort of upbringing and family life these kids would have to have had in order to think it was okay to walk into someone's house at 2am and steal their car? I mean, they're kids for god's sake. Can you imagine the sort of place they would most likely go home to after a night out on the town stealing cars? Maybe I'm making assumptions here but I've got a lot of compassion for these kids. They didn't hurt anyone, the car's not badly damaged and their lives must be pretty shitty.

My sister got mugged by a group of Aboriginal girls when she was about 18 on the train. It completely destroyed the years of school education she had received in which she learnt about the history of the Aboriginal people, assimilation and the Stolen Generations. All it took for her to completely discard her pragmatic, compassionate view on race issues was one incident.

I've never been in that situation, but I would like to think if I ever was, I wouldn't let a solitary experience cloud my view of an entire race. It's easy to hide behind racism. And at the end of the day, if I was mugged by a Caucasian guy, I certainly wouldn't think all white people were trash. Because that would be silly.

Big Dave Out

So I had a day off work this week and I took the opportunity to go on an expedition around Perth in the early hours of the morning (I got up before dawn) and test out my new camera.

I did it with the idea of putting together a YouTube clip of some of the better pictures with some music overlaid.

After a couple of attempts I managed to make the pics into a video clip and upload it! I'm very excited - this is the first time I've uploaded anything onto YouTube and now I feel like a card-carrying member of Gen Y :)

Anyway I thought I'd post it here for you to take a look. It's pretty amateurish but bear in mind it's my first attempt at anything like this. The pics were taken in and around the CBD and represent a short collection of what I like most about Perth. I think it may have something to do with my stint in the country, but I do love this place. I love the city and I love the skyline.

Sucked in.

That's what you get for being a bigot.